While marquee matchups like those offered up by the UEFA Champions League capture headlines around the world, the heart of the sport beats to the rhythm of rivalry.

Whether it’s about geography, politics, socioeconomics or religion, the planet’s passion for the sport is fueled by the identity and friction created by local rivalries. Sometimes it can get rough. But in most places derby day—with all its color, intensity and potential for local bragging rights—is the highlight of the soccer calendar.

Rivalry hasn’t come easy in MLS. Its clubs don’t have the history of foreign counterparts who’ve been facing off for a century or more, and the sheer size of the U.S. and Canada eliminates that vital cross-town element.

For comparison’s sake, there are 11 first-division soccer teams in greater Buenos Aires. MLS started with only 10 clubs back in 1996.

But the league and its fans are trying. Supporters groups have created trophies like the Cascadia Cup, Rocky Mountain Cup and Atlantic Cup to increase the stakes of rivalry games. MLS is making its push as well. This weekend, the league will stage its first Rivalry Week, where six (or seven, depending on your feelings about Chicago and Kansas City) of the nine matches on the schedule will pit rivals against each other.

Taking a page from the NFL’s highly addictive Red Zone channel, MLS and NBC will partner on an unprecedented rivalry showcase. The flagship network will televise the New York Red Bulls-D.C. United game on Saturday at 12:30 p.m. ET and NBC Sports Network will broadcast the Fire and Sporting KC at 3 p.m. ET. Then from 5:30 p.m. ET to 8 p.m. ET, NBCSN will bounce around to four more matches around the league leading up to the kickoff of the Cascadia derby between the Seattle Sounders and Portland Timbers.

There is little question that the Pacific Northwest’s progressive culture, its relative isolation, soccer’s lengthy history in the region and the existing enmity between the cities combine to make Sounders-Timbers the league’s top rivalry. The authenticity and relevance of the others is subject to debate. MLS is young and cultures are still taking root. So with that in mind, Sporting News ranks this weekend’s games based upon the legitimacy and permanence of the rivalry.

With nearly 40 years of history across four separate leagues, Timbers-Sounders is one of the pre-eminent rivalries in American sports. The huge crowds and national spotlight that accompanied their entry into MLS has further fueled the tension between metropolitan Seattle and counterculture Portland, who don’t face off in any other top-tier pro sport.

The one knock against the rivalry is that it’s been a bit one sided—the Sounders have won three U.S. Open Cup titles and four second-division championships, while Portland still is seeking its first major trophy. But the Timbers did win the 2012 Cascadia Cup thanks to a better record against the Sounders and Vancouver Whitecaps, which some partisans regarded as a decent consolation prize. With new coach Caleb Porter bringing an improved Portland squad to CenturyLink Field on Saturday night, the stakes have never been higher in the Pacific Northwest.

D.C. and New York aren’t natural rivals in every sport, but the incident-filled history between two MLS originals catapults the Atlantic Cup showdown to No. 2.

The Red Bulls (then the MetroStars) were supposed to be MLS’ flagship club. But it was D.C. that claimed three of the first four league titles, cementing a feeling of superiority in the capital and a sense of frustration in New York.

The tension between the fan bases hasn’t waned. There was the gripping 1996 playoff series that started it all, and iconic moments like Alecko Eskandarian’s Red Bull spit take and Bob Bradley’s ingenious but controversial manipulation of the goalkeeper substitution rule. Then there was last fall’s dramatic, snow-covered MLS Cup quarterfinal series that featured a venue change, red cards, own goals which was finally won by D.C. on a late goal at Red Bull Arena. Through it all, there’s a narrative and a history between these two clubs that legitimizes the rivalry.

New York and D.C. rarely have been good at the same time, which has limited the rivalry’s luster just a bit. But they’re both contenders now, making Saturday afternoon’s game—featuring the 2013 debut of former Red Bull turned United captain Dwayne De Rosario—one worth watching.

Several heated regular season games (that seemed to frequently send RSL to the playoffs at Colorado’s expense), consecutive league titles (RSL in ’09 and the Rapids in ’10), that time Colorado captain Pablo Mastroeni got into a postgame shouting match with former RSL founder Dave Checketts and the Mountain Time Zone’s version of a big brother-little brother dynamic combine to fuel MLS’ most underappreciated rivalry.

Denver may be the more cosmopolitan city, but it's RSL that has emerged as one of American soccer’s most consistent winners. There’s plenty to be angry about on both sides, and the atmosphere is sure to reflect that tension on Saturday afternoon at Rio Tinto Stadium.

4. Chivas USA (1-1-0) at L.A. Galaxy (1-0-0), Sunday, 5 p.m. ET

The Los Angeles derby, known as the “SuperClasico”, easily should be the biggest rivalry in MLS. The Galaxy and Chivas share a city and a stadium. They also represent cultures, visions and constituencies so contradictory that it would take historic ineptitude from one side or the other to ruin it. Sadly, Chivas has complied, floundering in the MLS basement while the Galaxy became the league’s most recognizable club. Throw in the fact that L.A. has far more history with the San Jose Earthquakes, and the weekend gets a rivalry that ranks as high as fourth simply because of its untapped potential.

The Texan clubs are trying, with some quality trash talk exchanged this week as Dallas and the Dynamo begin pursuit of El Capitan, the 18th century cannon awarded to the winner of the regular season series.

The rivalry hasn’t really caught on beyond Texas, however, likely because Houston has been so successful (two MLS Cup and four conference titles in seven years) while FCD has struggled for relevance. If MLS expands along the East Coast and the Dynamo return to the Western Conference, that would help. But the fact that a genuine rivalry exists between the cities—with flashy Big D looking down on big, blue collar H-Town—leaves room for growth. A long-awaited addition to the trophy case at FC Dallas Stadium would help as well.

6. Toronto FC (1-1-0) at Montreal Impact (2-0-0), Saturday, 4 p.m. ET

The battle for Eastern Canada will be huge at some point, thanks to proximity, national pride and the obvious cultural clash between the cities of Montreal and Toronto. But with the Impact in just its second MLS season and TFC more focused on ending a six-year playoff drought, it will take some time before this isn’t just an extension of Maple Leafs-Canadiens. In addition, Montreal’s toughest games back in its USL days came against Vancouver, not Toronto, limiting the soccer history between the cities.

The good news is that both clubs, under new coaches, appear to have improved this year and are developing styles, influences and cultures that should lay the foundation for real rivalry. The atmosphere at Olympic Stadium will be electric on Saturday, but Impact-TFC needs another year or two to grow.

MLS’ Midwestern clubs haven’t really found permanent rivals. Chicago’s memorable battles with the New England Revolution and D.C. United failed to transcend the particular players and teams of that time, and Kansas City has only been relevant for the past couple of years.

But scheduling this game was the right move by MLS. Chicago is the region’s most dominant city and SKC quickly is becoming one of the league’s most recognizable and successful teams. Its increasingly rabid fan base surely is looking for someone to hate. Chicago, the closest MLS club, is an ideal candidate.

Boston and Philadelphia contested a Super Bowl and the Stanley Cup, but it’s hard to imagine either city naming the other as a rival. In fact, they’re likely united in their dislike for New York. The fourth-year Union and struggling Revolution really don’t have much history with each other, but they had to play somebody this weekend, so MLS decided to keep it in the I-95 family. It may be a game worth watching, but it’s a distant eighth in the Rivalry Week rankings.

Along with idle Vancouver, the 'Quakes and Crew lost the game of Rivalry Week musical chairs. San Jose-L.A. might rank third or fourth if it was scheduled, but fans will have to wait until late June for this year’s first California Clasico. Meanwhile, despite the fact that it’s an MLS original and one of only five teams to have won an MLS Cup, the Open Cup and the Supporters Shield, the Crew have yet to claim a rival of its own. It won’t happen this weekend.